Calvin Track and Field Teams Perform Well at Grand Rapids Open ...

Calvin Track and Field Teams Perform Well at Grand Rapids Open

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Results

GRAND RAPIDS - The Calvin men?s and women?s track and field teams competed at the (non-scoring) Grand Rapids Open hosted by Aquinas College at Houseman Field Saturday afternoon. Several of the events that were held were non-traditional.

One of those events was the 300 meter dash. On the women?s side, junior Julie Busscher (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) took first place in a time of 41.98. Busscher was one of several winners for the Calvin women?s team.

Other winners for the Calvin women included junior Olivia Butler (Grant/Grant HS) in the 1,000 meter run (3:04.22), freshman McKenzie Diemer (Caledonia/South Christian HS) in the 3,000 meter run (10:30.22), sophomore Christina Geating (Abington, PA/Abington HS) in the high jump (5-1), junior Lauren Madden (Orland Park, IL/Chicago Christian HS) in the javelin (120-5) and junior Hilary Banning (Whitinsville, MA/Whitinsville Christian HS) in the triple jump (35-7 1/4).

On the men?s side, Calvin received first place performances from senior Greg Whittle (Galesburg, IL/Galesbug HS) in the 1,000 meters (2:31.37), sophomore Calvin Kuyers (Lansing/Lansing Christian HS) in the 300 meter hurdles (39.06) and senior Aaron Meckes (Bay City/Saginaw Valley Lutheran HS) in the shot put (50-6 1/4). Junior Ben deWaal Malefyt (Midland Park, NJ/Eastern Christian HS) also had a notable performance in the discus, tossing a career-best mark of 160-3 with Meckes close behind at 154-3.

Both Calvin teams will now prepare to compete at the Spartan Invitational next Saturday on the campus of Michigan State University.

Source: http://www.calvin.edu/sports/news/comments/calvin-track-and-field-teams-perform-well-at-grand-rapids-open/

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From Basement StartupTo Thriving Business: Glen Koedding, Green ...

It?s been two years since Glen Koedding started Green Sun Energy Services in his Middletown basement.? He?s tapped into a market in New Jersey (second only to California for solar energy) for third party energy supply; high-end solar; energy efficient improvements; and after Hurricane Sandy hobbled the state last year, home generators.

Koedding anticipates doubling his already healthy revenue by year end. I?interviewed him about why he?s revamping his website, why there?s no such thing as ?free solar,? utilizing the cloud, and what California is taking from New Jersey (hint: it?s not retirees).

Question: Did you get any sleep during the month Sandy hit?

Glen?s business is succeeding in part because of smart marketing but also because he has a laser focus on his customers and knows what they need.

It wasn?t that bad because we had most of the upfront stuff ready. I took a walk after Sandy with my family and a neighbor asked me if we were doing generators yet. I said ?no, but give me two weeks.?

At home I called my business partner to say we needed to step up this generator thing, which was in the business plan already. I was able to launch a full blitz marketing campaign by the time the lights came back on.

We had the website, our lead capture form was up, pricing models in place, subcontractors contracted, and we sold close to $300,000 worth of in-home generators in about two months.

We did one email blast saying that folks who?d already opted in to our list would get a special price. It?s not something I could do without the Internet or without an understanding of email marketing and how to tie that into a good solid landing page. I can press a button and send emails out with a customized estimate with a contract attached to it. That?s pretty neat.

Question: What?s your biggest challenge in marketing Green Sun?

Misinformation about solar. Solar is the biggest of our four solutions, although whole house emergency backup generators are currently a hot commodity.

Glen knows the ins and outs of the solar business and guides his customers to make educated and beneficial decisions.

Quite a few companies are marketing this thing called ?free solar.? You see kiosks at Home Depot. I haven?t figured out how they haven?t been indicted because it?s really not free?it?s a zero down lease. It?s a bait and switch. My Google ad says, ?Is free solar a scam?? We provide leasing that we?re transparent about. A lease should be lower than your electric payment and then it makes sense.

The other misinformation is cultural. Leasing is viewed as risk-free and cheap. But when you lease anything, it shows up on your credit report as a liability.

Our focus is to leverage the good credit rating of our customers so they can borrow at a much more competitive rate than with a lease and make a profit. I focused on this when starting the company because our state is giving millions away to leasing companies that are mainly in California. Solar is supported by a tiny portion of the rate you pay for electricity. Out-of-state leasing companies take those benefits, which were designed to support New Jerseyans for investing in solar. Consumers don?t understand this.

Question: In business today, how important is it to meet people face to face?

There?s no substitute for face to face. Web gives credibility, depth of research and reach, but in my market I depend upon reputation, so having both makes all the difference.

I get a good deal of business from a couple of business networking groups. They help our online marketing too. We help each other out on Facebook and LinkedIn. I have links on my site to local partners where I?m basically providing an advertising space and a backlink for people who I know have superior service.

Facebook has been the most important social media platform for us. On LinkedIn I have a tremendous amount of contacts, but we haven?t seen that translate into business. What it may do is provide credibility. You can see my connections and my history. But I think Facebook?s where referrals happen.

We do some pay-per-click advertising that?s highly targeted. We post installations, new products and solutions, and photos of clients. Prospects can see that people enjoy interacting with us and can get ideas. Clients post their electric bills! Getting that kind of interaction is huge. We?re building community.

Question: Are you bringing solar to the masses?

Solar may save energy but people also want it to look good. Glen accounts for the architecture of the building to install the most aesthetic ? and energy-saving ? option.

No, we?re a boutique company with a focus on long-term relationships with high-end clients. There?s alot of Kmarts in my industry. We want to be the local Nordstrom?s of solar, generators, third party energy and home energy improvements.

We?re highly segmented, very focused on high-end residential homeowners who want a long-term relationship and care about the aesthetic look and feel of the system?they want it to blend into their homes? architecture. They?re more likely to buy than lease solar because they want a return on investment.

Our other focus is what I call ?owner-occupied small businesses.? Like a home that?s converted into a funeral home, a vet, maybe a small manufacturing facility where they see solar as an investment, to not only reduce energy prices but profit. They?re also seeking that relationship and often, aesthetic appeal. If you go to a funeral home you don?t want to see gaudy solar panels! Architectural precision and tastefulness make a big difference.

Question: Tell us about your upcoming website facelift and what lessons you learned from your first two years.

I?ve learned to balance what I can do myself and what I can outsource. I come from a business, marketing and IT background. The website looked good when I was managing it, but didn?t have all the stuff in the back end right.

We use a third party application, Salesforce.com, for all our operations except finance and to manage our website and client portal. I became a jack of all trades and taught myself HTML. The pages I added were good from a look and feel standpoint and okay on SEO. But I knew the code was dirty, so part of the relaunch was to include our new solution portfolio in a more organized manner, to clean up the code and get it optimized. I did some organic search first time around, but Version 2.0 will be better.

Video has not helped much despite the ton of statistics about how important it is. We have four videos on the homepage that have had less than 100 clicks after almost a year. Two are TV ads we abandoned because they gave us exposure but not conversions. I learned the first place people go to learn about and to buy something complicated is the Web, not TV or the phone book. The other two are a company video and one done by Brookdale?s continuing ed program. I was on the cover of the catalog. I did a 40-hour noncredit training course.

Part of the revamp was to ditch Flash and get a medium that works across all platforms. I can see on Google analytics that we get alot of mobile devices. I?ve limited my advertising to computers and tablets and excluded cell phones, but that?ll change. If the site?s not optimized at minimum for a tablet, you?re losing 50 percent of your potential market. My wife, for example, doesn?t use her laptop anymore.

The average cost to acquire a solar customer is approximately $1,000. For solar, it?s 50 percent referrals, 25 percent pure web leads and the rest is installer referrals. We have a referral bonus program.

We?re poised to double our revenue this year. We?ve got great teams, great subcontractors, all managed remotely. Everything?s in the cloud. It all goes back to the technology.

Koedding?s company can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://www.websearchsocial.com/glen-koedding-green-sun-energy-services?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=glen-koedding-green-sun-energy-services

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Project SHIELD at GDC 2013

Still waiting on retail availability info

We already got some playtime with NVIDIA's Project SHIELD at PAX East, but it was great to sneak in a few more rounds at GDC 2013. As a more industry-focused event, obviously NVIDIA was busy at GDC getting devs on board with Tegra optimizations through sessions, but there were also plenty of Project SHIELD demo units kicking around, giving everyone a chance to try out the system first-hand.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/E-dJyg7NlFQ/story01.htm

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Nuffield Placement Scheme | Mentoring and business coaching - EU ...

What is the Nuffield Research Placement Scheme?

The Nuffield Research Placement Scheme is available?for Schools and Colleges in Northern Ireland, providing STEM (science / technology / engineering and mathematics) placements to Year 13/FE (AS level) students during the summer. The placements are funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Students meeting set criteria by the Nuffield Foundation can be paid ?80 per week for their placement. Students unsuccessful in obtaining a fully funded place but awarded a placement can have their travel costs covered upon application and retention of travel receipts.

What is the participating organisations support likely to entail;

• As placements are funded by the Nuffield Foundation there is no monetary cost to the participating organisation.

• Placements last minimum 4 weeks, maximum 6 weeks during which students are expected to be assigned to a specific project defined by the participating organisation and supervised by a member of staff. In the past, students have worked on both large scale projects contributing to a part of their supervisors projects, as well as working on smaller projects that researchers/engineers within the organisation have put on the backburner due to lack of time.

• Upon completing their placements students are required to have produced a technical report on the research/activities they have been involved in and present their report at a celebration evening.

• For Project Providers the placements provide an extra pair of hands, permit staff development, promote the company and inspire young people towards a STEM career.

?

The Project Provider registration form is available to download at the bottom of this page. This can be completed and returned to laurence.donaghy@sentinus.co.uk.?

Alternatively for further information please visit http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements

?

Nuffield Project Provider Registration Form

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Project Providers Leaflet_2013

Posted on March 29, 2013

Source: http://www.noribic.com/2013/03/29/nuffield-placement-scheme/

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No vaginas please, it?s Idaho (Americablog)

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Biological transistor enables computing within living cells

Mar. 28, 2013 ? When Charles Babbage prototyped the first computing machine in the 19th century, he imagined using mechanical gears and latches to control information. ENIAC, the first modern computer developed in the 1940s, used vacuum tubes and electricity. Today, computers use transistors made from highly engineered semiconducting materials to carry out their logical operations.

And now a team of Stanford University bioengineers has taken computing beyond mechanics and electronics into the living realm of biology. In a paper to be published March 28 in Science, the team details a biological transistor made from genetic material -- DNA and RNA -- in place of gears or electrons. The team calls its biological transistor the "transcriptor."

"Transcriptors are the key component behind amplifying genetic logic -- akin to the transistor and electronics," said Jerome Bonnet, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering and the paper's lead author.

The creation of the transcriptor allows engineers to compute inside living cells to record, for instance, when cells have been exposed to certain external stimuli or environmental factors, or even to turn on and off cell reproduction as needed.

"Biological computers can be used to study and reprogram living systems, monitor environments and improve cellular therapeutics," said Drew Endy, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering and the paper's senior author.

The biological computer

In electronics, a transistor controls the flow of electrons along a circuit. Similarly, in biologics, a transcriptor controls the flow of a specific protein, RNA polymerase, as it travels along a strand of DNA.

"We have repurposed a group of natural proteins, called integrases, to realize digital control over the flow of RNA polymerase along DNA, which in turn allowed us to engineer amplifying genetic logic," said Endy.

Using transcriptors, the team has created what are known in electrical engineering as logic gates that can derive true-false answers to virtually any biochemical question that might be posed within a cell.

They refer to their transcriptor-based logic gates as "Boolean Integrase Logic," or "BIL gates" for short.

Transcriptor-based gates alone do not constitute a computer, but they are the third and final component of a biological computer that could operate within individual living cells.

Despite their outward differences, all modern computers, from ENIAC to Apple, share three basic functions: storing, transmitting and performing logical operations on information.

Last year, Endy and his team made news in delivering the other two core components of a fully functional genetic computer. The first was a type of rewritable digital data storage within DNA. They also developed a mechanism for transmitting genetic information from cell to cell, a sort of biological Internet.

It all adds up to creating a computer inside a living cell.

Boole's gold

Digital logic is often referred to as "Boolean logic," after George Boole, the mathematician who proposed the system in 1854. Today, Boolean logic typically takes the form of 1s and 0s within a computer. Answer true, gate open; answer false, gate closed. Open. Closed. On. Off. 1. 0. It's that basic. But it turns out that with just these simple tools and ways of thinking you can accomplish quite a lot.

"AND" and "OR" are just two of the most basic Boolean logic gates. An "AND" gate, for instance, is "true" when both of its inputs are true -- when "a" and "b" are true. An "OR" gate, on the other hand, is true when either or both of its inputs are true.

In a biological setting, the possibilities for logic are as limitless as in electronics, Bonnet explained. "You could test whether a given cell had been exposed to any number of external stimuli -- the presence of glucose and caffeine, for instance. BIL gates would allow you to make that determination and to store that information so you could easily identify those which had been exposed and which had not," he said.

By the same token, you could tell the cell to start or stop reproducing if certain factors were present. And, by coupling BIL gates with the team's biological Internet, it is possible to communicate genetic information from cell to cell to orchestrate the behavior of a group of cells.

"The potential applications are limited only by the imagination of the researcher," said co-author Monica Ortiz, a PhD candidate in bioengineering who demonstrated autonomous cell-to-cell communication of DNA encoding various BIL gates.

Building a transcriptor

To create transcriptors and logic gates, the team used carefully calibrated combinations of enzymes -- the integrases mentioned earlier -- that control the flow of RNA polymerase along strands of DNA. If this were electronics, DNA is the wire and RNA polymerase is the electron.

"The choice of enzymes is important," Bonnet said. "We have been careful to select enzymes that function in bacteria, fungi, plants and animals, so that bio-computers can be engineered within a variety of organisms."

On the technical side, the transcriptor achieves a key similarity between the biological transistor and its semiconducting cousin: signal amplification.

With transcriptors, a very small change in the expression of an integrase can create a very large change in the expression of any two other genes.

To understand the importance of amplification, consider that the transistor was first conceived as a way to replace expensive, inefficient and unreliable vacuum tubes in the amplification of telephone signals for transcontinental phone calls. Electrical signals traveling along wires get weaker the farther they travel, but if you put an amplifier every so often along the way, you can relay the signal across a great distance. The same would hold in biological systems as signals get transmitted among a group of cells.

"It is a concept similar to transistor radios," said Pakpoom Subsoontorn, a PhD candidate in bioengineering and co-author of the study who developed theoretical models to predict the behavior of BIL gates. "Relatively weak radio waves traveling through the air can get amplified into sound."

Public-domain biotechnology

To bring the age of the biological computer to a much speedier reality, Endy and his team have contributed all of BIL gates to the public domain so that others can immediately harness and improve upon the tools.

"Most of biotechnology has not yet been imagined, let alone made true. By freely sharing important basic tools everyone can work better together," Bonnet said.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Jerome Bonnet, Peter Yin, Monica E. Ortiz, Pakpoom Subsoontorn, and Drew Endy. Amplifying Genetic Logic Gates. Science, 28 March 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1232758

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/biochemistry/~3/ED1fLVQ-WsM/130328142400.htm

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Pope refers to "Muslim brothers" on Good Friday

ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.

With torches lighting the way, the faithful carried a cross to different stations, where meditations and prayers were read out recalling the final hours of Jesus' life and his crucifixion.

This year, the prayers were composed by young Lebanese, and many recalled the plight of minority Christians in the region, where wars have forced thousands to flee their homelands. The meditations called for an end to "violent fundamentalism," terrorism and the "wars and violence which in our days devastate various countries in the Middle East."

Francis, who became pope just over two weeks ago, chose, however, to stress Christians' positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony.

Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Francis recalled Benedict XVI's 2012 visit to Lebanon when "we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others."

"That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world, a sign of hope," he said.

Friday's outreach followed Francis' eyebrow-raising gesture a day earlier, when he washed and kissed the feet of two women, one a Muslim, in the Holy Thursday ritual that commemorates Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.

Breaking with tradition, Francis performed the ritual on 12 inmates at a juvenile detention center, rather than in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica, where in the past, 12 priests have been chosen to represent Jesus' disciples.

Before he became pope, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio long cultivated warm relations with Muslim leaders in his native Argentina. In one of his first speeches as pope, he called for the church and the West in general to "intensify" relations with the Muslim world.

The Vatican's relations with Islam hit several bumps during Benedict XVI's papacy, when he outraged Muslims with a 2006 speech quoting a Byzantine emperor as saying some of Prophet Muhammad's teachings were "evil and inhuman." And in 2011, the pre-eminent institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world, Cairo's Al-Azhar institute, froze dialogue with the Vatican to protest Benedict's call for greater protection of Christians in Egypt.

However, Francis' past outreach to the Muslim community in Argentina seems to have changed that. Al-Azhar's chief imam, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, sent a message of congratulations to Francis on his election and said he hoped for cooperation.

The Vatican's efforts to reconcile with the Islamic world have not been welcomed by all. Italy's most famous Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, announced last week he was leaving the church because of its "soft" stance on Islam. Allam was baptized by Benedict XVI in 2008 during the high-profile Easter Vigil service when the pope traditionally baptizes a handful of adults. There has been no Vatican comment on his about-face.

Thousands of people packed the Colosseum and surrounding areas for the nighttime procession, holding candles wrapped in paper globes as Francis sat in silent prayer as a giant torch-lit crucifix twinkled nearby. Some in the crowd had Lebanese flags around their shoulders in an indication of the special role Lebanese faithful played in this year's procession.

Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East ? nearly 40 percent of the country's 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. As civil war has raged in neighboring Syria, Lebanon's Christian community has been divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Overall, Christians in the Middle East have been uneasy as the Arab Spring has led to the strengthening of Islamist groups in most countries that have experienced uprisings. Thousands of Christians have fled the region ? a phenomenon that the Vatican has lamented, given Christianity's roots in the Holy Land.

"How sad it is to see this blessed land suffer in its children, who relentlessly tear one another to pieces and die!" said one of the Good Friday meditations. "It seems that nothing can overcome evil, terrorism, murder and hatred."

Francis picked up on that message, saying Christ's death on the cross is "the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us."

"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," he said.

At the end of the ceremony, a male choir sang a haunting Arabic hymn, a reflection of the Eastern rite influence that infused the ceremony.

On Saturday, Francis presides over the solemn Easter Vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica and on Sunday, he celebrates Easter Mass and delivers an important speech. Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.

In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Friday "we'll have to see" what Francis does with the multilingual greetings.

The Good Friday procession was conducted entirely in Italian, whereas in years past the core elements recounting what happens at each station would be recited in a variety of languages.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-refers-muslim-brothers-good-friday-001145243.html

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Shaka Smart to sign extension to remain at VCU

Shaka Smart and VCU have agreed in principle to a deal to keep the basketball coach at the school.

The details are still being finalized, but the majority of changes involve "program enhancements for the student-athletes and coaches," athletic director Ed McLaughlin said. It also extends a contract already scheduled to run through 2020.

Smart is 111-37 in four years, the sixth-most wins in the country over that stretch and the second-most for a coach in his first four seasons. VCU also is one of just eight schools to have won an NCAA tournament game each of the past four years, joining Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio State, Florida, Syracuse, Marquette and Gonzaga.

Smart's name has come up in high-profile coaching searches ever since he guided the Rams to the Final Four as one of the last teams to make the 2011 NCAA tournament. The Rams' five victories all came against power conference schools.

He was pursued by North Carolina State two years ago and Illinois last season.

With openings at places such as UCLA, Southern Cal and Minnesota already developing this offseason, VCU wanted to give him a new deal to be proactive in the face of certain interest from elsewhere, McLaughlin said.

Smart's decision to stay after the Final Four run earned him a hefty raise in a contract also laden with incentives, and he earned about $1.5 million this season, including incentives.

Whenever the topic of being a candidate for bigger jobs comes up, Smart has insisted that he and his wife love it in Richmond and at VCU, making it easier to walk away from significant raises elsewhere.

The environment at the Rams' home arena, the Siegel Center, has also been a major part of VCU's success with 35 consecutive sellouts and a crowd that feeds off the Rams' intense, 94-foot pressuring style known as "havoc."

The Rams' transition to the Atlantic 10 also went seamlessly with VCU earning its first national ranking in 28 years, staying at or near the top of the league standings throughout the year and reaching the championship game.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shaka-smart-sign-extension-remain-vcu-012717257--spt.html

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Windsor: Marriage 'is magic' (CNN)

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Actress Ashley Judd won't run for US Senate

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) ? Actress Ashley Judd announced Wednesday she won't run for U.S. Senate in Kentucky against Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, saying she had given serious thought to a campaign but decided her responsibilities and energy need to be focused on her family.

The former Kentucky resident tweeted her decision.

"Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader," Judd wrote.

"While that won't be me at this time, I will continue to work as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!"

Her publicist Cara Tripicchio confirmed Judd's decision.

The 44-year-old Judd had hinted last week that she was nearing a decision about the race.

Now living in suburban Nashville, Tenn., Judd has said little publicly about her intentions. However, she has been meeting with several Democratic leaders, including Gov. Steve Beshear, to discuss a possible run.

Defeating McConnell would be the Democrats' biggest prize of the 2014 election. His seat is one of 14 that Republicans are defending while Democrats try to hold onto 21, hoping to retain or add to their 55-45 edge.

The star of such films as "Double Jeopardy" and "Kiss the Girls" is known for her liberal political views and she would have been running in a largely conservative state where Republicans hold both Senate seats and five of the six seats in the U.S. House.

Former State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, a Judd supporter, said she would have been a strong candidate.

"As a Kentuckian and someone who was really enthusiastic about her as a candidate, this wasn't the news I was hoping for," Miller said. "But as her friend, from the first time we talked about the race last summer, I was very candid about the grueling nature of politics. It's become a very unpleasant business and running against Mitch McConnell would be an extraordinarily difficult and grueling experience."

McConnell, who spent some $20 million on his last election and who has already raised $10 million for the next one, had already been taunting would-be Democratic challengers in a comical online video intended to raise second thoughts about taking on a politician known as brawler. The video plays on the fact that Judd lives in Tennessee.

Republican-leaning group American Crossroads in its own online video also plays on the Tennessee angle and ties her closely to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in Kentucky.

University of Louisville political scientist Laurie Rhodebeck said Judd certainly wasn't frightened out of the race.

"She doesn't strike me as a shrinking violet," Rhodebeck said. "I think the real issue would be how much disruption she wanted in her life. This was the kind of thing that she would have to throw herself into 100 percent in order to make it worthwhile."

Judd and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti separated early this year after marrying in his native Scotland in 2001.

Judd's decision not to enter the race leaves the Democratic Party in search of a candidate. Many of Kentucky's top Democrats, including Beshear, have said they won't run. However, a rising star within the party, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, hasn't ruled the race out. Grimes declined comment Wednesday evening through her spokeswoman, Lynn Sowards Zellen.

___

Associated Press writer Janet Cappiello contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/actress-ashley-judd-wont-run-us-senate-213309573--politics.html

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Windsor: Marriage 'is magic' (CNN)

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Fewer children mean longer life?

Thursday, March 28, 2013

New research into ageing processes, based on modern genetic techniques, confirms theoretical expectations about the correlation between reproduction and lifespan. Studies of birds reveal that those that have offspring later in life and have fewer broods live longer. And the decisive factor is telomeres, shows research from The University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of chromosomes. The length of telomeres influences how long an individual lives.

Telomeres start off at a certain length, become shorter each time a cell divides, decline as the years pass by until the telomeres can no longer protect the chromosomes, and the cell dies. But the length of telomeres varies significantly among individuals of the same age. This is partly due to the length of the telomeres that has been inherited from the parents, and partly due to the amount of stress an individual is exposed to.

"This is important, not least for our own species, as we are all having to deal with increased stress," says Angela Pauliny, Researcher from the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.

Researchers have studied barnacle geese, which are long-lived birds, the oldest in the study being 22 years old. The results show that geese, compared to short-lived bird species, have a better ability to preserve the length of their telomeres. The explanation is probably that species with a longer lifespan invest more in maintaining bodily functions than, for example, reproduction.

"There is a clear correlation between reproduction and ageing in the animal world. Take elephants, which have a long lifespan but few offspring, while mice, for example, live for a short time but produce a lot of offspring each time they try," says Angela Pauliny.

The geese studied by researchers varied in age, from very young birds to extremely old ones. Each bird was measured twice, two years apart. One striking result was that the change in telomere length varied according to gender.

"The study revealed that telomeres were best-preserved in males. Among barnacle geese, the telomeres thus shorten more quickly in females, which in birds is the sex with two different gender chromosomes. Interestingly, it is the exactl opposite in humans," says Angela Pauliny.

###

The journal BMC Evolutionary Biology has classified the research article "Telomere dynamics in a long-lived bird, the barnacle goose" as "Highly Accessed".

Link to the article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/12/257

University of Gothenburg: http://www.gu.se/english

Thanks to University of Gothenburg for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127500/Fewer_children_mean_longer_life_

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Global IT Spend Will Rise 4.1% To $3.8 Trillion In 2013, ?A Calm Ocean With Turbulent Currents', With Mobile Driving Growth

Gartner has just released its annual projections on worldwide IT spend over the next two years -- arguably the analyst house's most wide-ranging report covering sales in hardware, software, enterprise and telecoms. The overall trends continue to point up: globally we will see $3.8 trillion spent across all categories, a rise of 4.1% on 2012. That's a sign of slight recovery on a year ago: growth in 2012 was only 2.1%. Mobile and enterprise services are fuelling a lot of the good news, with declines in areas of legacy technology like PCs and voice services. Gartner further notes that the same growth will largely continue into 2014.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/p-vpAZfyQZk/

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Video: PFT: Cowboys owner Jones hard at work

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/51354757#51354757

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Academy of Art University News ? Society of Illustrators Honors ...

The Piano Lesson, an illustration by Raymond Bonilla, received gold medals from The Society of Illustrators New York and The Society of Illustrators Los Angeles.

Raymond Bonilla says he strives to create art that records his observations of the world around him. The larger world is taking notice of his work: Bonilla, a 2009 MFA graduate of the Academy of Art University?s School of Illustration, has received four awards from the pinnacle organization in his profession, The Society of Illustrators.

His illustration titled ?The Piano Lesson? won a gold medal in Advertising from?The Society of Illustrators New York for its 55th Annual Exhibition. The same piece won a gold medal in Entertainment/Visual Development for the The Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 51st Annual Exhibition. His work ?Dance Ensemble? (immediately below) was also accepted into The Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 51st Annual Exhibition in the Entertainment/Visual Development category. Bonilla?s ?High Plains Fandango? earlier was awarded an Honorable Mention in Entertainment/Visual Development for the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 50th Annual Exhibition.

Dance Ensemble, an illustration by Raymond Bonilla, was produced for State University of New York Fredonia's Department of Theatre and Dance Performance. It became a poster for the play "Stop the World ? I Want to Get Off."

High Plains Fandango was accepted into The Society of Illustrators Los Angeles 50th Annual Exhibition.

The Annual Exhibitions are worldwide juried competitions. ?While thousands of artists submit to these competitions every year, only a small percentage of juried in, and from that only a handful receive awards,? Bonilla notes.

All three of the awarded pieces were for theater posters done for State University of New York (SUNY) Fredonia Department of Theatre and Dance Performance. For each of the productions, Bonilla worked with a director to design posters that capture the main themes of the plays staged by the department.

This illustration by Raymond Bonilla was used as a poster for the Shakespeare play "Macbeth." From SUNY Fredonia's 2012 theater season.

?For Piano Lesson, I worked with Director Tom Loughlin, with whom I also had worked on High Plains Fandango,? he says. ?Before submitting any sketches to the director, I read through the plays? scripts in their entirety. I find that the script really helps me understand the play?s ?feeling? and allows me to discuss the poster?s direction in a much more specific fashion.

This illustration by Raymond Bonilla was used as a poster for the August Wilson play "The Piano Lesson."

?I feel that my job as an illustrator is to not only to make an aesthetically pleasing image but to effectively capture a play?s multiple themes and condense them into a powerful single image. In the case of The Piano Lesson, written by the acclaimed playwright August Wilson, the play presents the story of a young man who visits his sister and uncle in Pittsburgh in 1936 determined to sell the family?s heirloom piano so he can buy the land on which his family had been slaves. After discussing the script and presenting a round of sketches with Tom, we both decided the poster should try to convey the story?s tense sibling relationship and the weight of the family?s scarred past, as manifested in the almost mystic family heirloom, a piano.

?In terms of the painting, I started with a line drawing using photographs I took of models and my approved sketch as a reference to plot out my compositional and shadow shapes. After this, I worked from large to small, background to foreground, until I achieved a finish that was appropriate for the piece.?

This illustration was used as a poster for the play "The Diary of Anne Frank." SUNY Fredonia 2013 theater season.

Bonilla also produces illustrations for fantasy and adventure games. This piece, titled Shady Tracker, was produced for the game "Call of Cthulhu," ? 2012 Fantasy Flight Games.

Bonilla was born in Queens, New York, and originally enrolled in the Academy?s School of Animation & Visual Effects in 2005 because he wanted to work in feature films and commercials. His interests changed after his first semester. ?I realized that what I really wanted to do was to paint narratively,? he says. ?With the encouragement of one of my early mentors, Tom Bertino, I transferred into Illustration. There I took classes with William Maughan, Craig Nelson, Zhao Ming Wu and John Rush, who endowed me with great knowledge and pushed my abilities beyond what I thought I was capable of. Without them and other great teachers such as Lisa Berrett, Jeannie Brunnick and Tomutsu Takashima, I wouldn?t have been able to accomplish all that I have since graduating.?

Raymond Bonilla is a 2009 MFA graduate of the Academy's School of Illustration.

Learn more about Raymond Bonilla?s work at his website and his blog.

Except as otherwise indicated, all images ? Raymond Bonilla

Source: http://newsfeed.academyart.edu/2013/03/society-of-illustrators-honors-academy-of-art-university-alum-raymond-bonilla/

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I'm Having A Baby This Week, Y'all! - Austin Moms Blog

I?m having a baby this week, y?all!

So here?s some random ramblings of the last nine months and the last few weeks. I haven?t talked a lot about this pregnancy and a friend the other day asked why I?ve been so secretive this go-around. With Lincoln, I posted baby bump pictures all along the way {bare belly and all}, photos of his nursery, talked about my pregnancy, shared his name with my entire network {some I know VERY well and like many, some I haven?t seen/spoken to in a decade}, etc. With bambino #2, I didn?t want to tell anyone we were expecting until at least 12 weeks. Well, that stretched into 17 weeks and we finally announced that we were pregnant with #2 and that ?it? was a boy!

Strangely enough, I didn?t have this burning desire to make a status update about being pregnant. As I saw many friends posting about their joy, I would simply smile in happiness for them, knowing that I was due sooner and still hadn?t shared our joy. Oddly, there was something really neat about keeping it to myself. I know I?m not the only woman in the world to have suffered a miscarriage, but having gone through that experience really shaped my thoughts and feelings about being pregnant again. I didn?t want to be constantly asked the dreaded question, ?How are you feeling?? and be inundated with all of the other conversations that go with being ?pregnant.? Call me selfish.

Although I?ve been private about my pregnancy, 9 months pregnant with a delivery date of this Friday the 29^{th {Good Friday}}, I find myself feeling not far off from when I was pregnant with my soon-to-be oldest son. The nursery has been ready for months, the letters are on the wall and embroidered on the blanket, everything?s been washed in Dreft, bags have been packed for weeks, and the hubs and I just finished deep cleaning the house {can?t have a new baby come home to a speck of dirt?cause he cares and all}. The cradle is ready, diapers are stocked, and all that we are missing is an actual baby boy! But that will all change in a few short days. All in all, I?m just as internally excited about meeting our littlest and have nested just the same? maybe even more since I?m not a ?working? mom this time.

The only thing that?s really been different is preparing for the hospital stay. When Lincoln was born it was a production at the hospital with non-stop visitors, family, nurses, etc. I?m grateful everyone came, but it was definitely overwhelming. We know we can?t eliminate the nurses (nor would I want to), but we have requested from just about everyone to help us make this a more calm experience. I really don?t want tears at the hospital this time. One of the many requests I had when Lincoln was going to be delivered was that since I was having a planned c-section I didn?t want anyone to go to the nursery windows to see him before he was brought to my room. Anyone who has had a c-section knows how in-intimate the experience is and how little time you get to see your baby. I just don?t think it?s fair that everyone gets to oodle over my baby before I?ve even counted his fingers and toes. Take note family!

We?ve been asked by a number of people what our son?s name is and while it?s not a secret, it?s definitely something we?ve kept private. I guess it only seems fitting since we?ve been so private thus far. All I?ll say to those who are curious is that his name is not common, it?s not too ?out there? in terms of made-up-ness, and we?ve been told it goes with Lincoln in likeness.

So there you have it, folks; my last few thoughts before I?m a Mommy X 2! I?m so excited to be a Mommy to another human and I can only hope that Lincoln and his baby brother are best of friends like me and my sister. Hubby and I are BEYOND ready for this new chapter in our lives! Wish us luck!!!

8 days from delivery with Baby #1-turned out to be only 7 days away

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About Allison Mack

Allison is the co-founder of Austin Moms Blog. She is the wife to Wesley, a stay at home mom to Lincoln, and an insanely extroverted social butterfly!

Source: http://austinmomsblog.com/2013/03/26/im-having-a-baby-yall/

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'Moderate' New England red tide forecasted for 2013

Mar. 25, 2013 ? New England is expected to experience a "moderate" red tide this spring and summer, report NOAA-funded scientists studying the toxic algae that cause blooms in the Gulf of Maine. The "red tide" is caused by an alga Alexandrium fundyense, which produces a toxin that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Red tide typically occurs annually along some portions of the Gulf of Maine coast. This year's outlook is similar to the 2012 red tide which was also classified as "moderate."

As with the past five forecasts for this region, the 2013 outlook is based on the quantities of the A. fundyense in its cyst (dormant) state detected in Gulf of Maine sediments last fall. These data are combined with a computer model to produce a range of bloom scenarios based on previous years' conditions. This year, the team also used a forecast of toxicity impact developed from 34 years of historical data as part of the 2013 outlook. The 2013 bloom is expected to fall somewhere in the middle in terms of toxicity impact, justifying a "moderate" forecast done by the established method.

"This region is very fortunate to have a long time series of cyst abundance data, toxicity records in shellfish, and long-term measurements of ocean conditions from ships and moored instrumented buoys to develop these two complementary approaches to the seasonal forecast," said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist Don Anderson.

The forecast team emphasizes the need to consult state and local management agencies for updated harvesting closure information. In order to protect public health, shellfish beds are closed when toxicities rise above a quarantine level, often during the peak harvesting season. Due to effective monitoring by state agencies, there have been no illnesses from legally harvested shellfish in recent years, despite some severe blooms during that time period. There have been, however, several severe poisonings of individuals who ignored closure signs.

"Red tide is a chronic problem throughout the Gulf of Maine, affecting commercial and recreational harvesting interests," said Chris Nash, shellfish program manager for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. "State agencies are responsible for monitoring toxicity levels in shellfish harvest areas and implementing harvest closures when needed. As a state manager, regional-scale, seasonal outlooks help us plan and use limited monitoring resources effectively. Ultimately our goals are to protect public health and give consumers confidence in the quality of the seafood products they purchase from markets and restaurants, and these forecasts are useful in realizing those goals."

Project researchers regularly share their field observations and models with more than 150 coastal resource and fisheries managers in six states as well as federal agencies such as NOAA, the FDA and the EPA. Real-time forecasts are updated on a weekly basis and additional information will be provided on the "Current Status" page of the Northeast PSP website. The National Weather Service is also providing extended hydrological and meteorological outlooks to accompany the bloom forecasts.

"NOAA-funded research has led to the development of seasonal forecasts which aid in monitoring and planning for red tides," said Quay Dortch, program coodinator for NOAA's Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) Program. "These forecasts will be an important part of the Operational HAB Forecasting System NOAA is developing to reduce the impacts of harmful algae."

The forecasting project is a collaboration of investigators from NOAA's National Ocean Service, National Weather Service and National Marine Fisheries Service, WHOI, NCSU, University of Maine, the FDA, Maine Department of Marine Resources, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and the North Atlantic Clam Association. Funding is provided through the NOAA program Prevention, Control and Mitigation of Harmful Algal Blooms (PCMHAB), led by Dennis McGillicuddy (WHOI). Long-term support for Alexandrium studies in the Gulf of Maine is provided by the NOAA NOS NCCOS Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR) and NIEHS and the NSF through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/vX6Pr8poPnY/130325135416.htm

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Syrian opposition takes seat at Arab summit

The Syrian revolutionary flag, is seen in front of the empty seat of the Syrian delegation during the opening session of the Arab League summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Ghiath Mohamad)

The Syrian revolutionary flag, is seen in front of the empty seat of the Syrian delegation during the opening session of the Arab League summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Ghiath Mohamad)

Emir of Qatar Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, center, attends the opening session of the Arab League Summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Ghiath Mohamad)

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, center, attends the opening session of the Arab League summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Ghiath Mohamad)

Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, left, attends the opening session of the Arab League Summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Ghiath Mohamad)

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime.

In a ceremonious entrance accompanied by applause, a delegation led by Mouaz al-Khatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance ? the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition ? took the seats assigned for Syria at the invitation of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Al-Khatib used the forum to call for a greater U.S. role in aiding the rebels and said he had appealed to Secretary of State John Kerry to consider using NATO Patriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey to help defend northern Syria against strikes by Assad's forces.

The decision for the opposition to take Syria's seat was made at the recommendation of Arab foreign ministers earlier this week in the Qatari capital, Doha. The Arab League in 2011 suspended the Syrian government's membership in the organization as punishment for the regime's crackdown on opponents.

The Qatari ruler, who chairs the summit, said the Syrian opposition deserves "this representation because of the popular legitimacy they have won at home and the broad support they won abroad and the historic role they have assumed in leading the revolution and preparing for building the new Syria."

The diplomatic triumph and Qatar's praise, however, could not conceal the disarray within the top ranks of the Syrian opposition.

Besides al-Khatib, the Syrian delegation included Ghassan Hitto, recently elected prime minister of a planned interim government to administer rebel-held areas in Syria, and two prominent opposition figures, George Sabra and Suheir Atassi.

Addressing the gathering, al-Khatib thanked the Arab League for granting the seat to the opposition. "It is part of the restoration of legitimacy that the people of Syria have long been robbed of," he said.

He lamented the inaction of several foreign governments, which he did not name, toward the Syrian crisis and spoke emotionally of the suffering of the civilians in his country.

"I convey to you the greetings of the orphans, widows, the wounded, the detained and the homeless," al-Khatib told the gathering in an opulent hall in Doha.

He also defended the presence in Syria of foreign jihadis, saying the militants were there to help defend a people under attack but adding that those more needed by their families in their own countries should leave.

"Is it the beards or the fact that they are foreigners?" he asked, referring to concern in the West and elsewhere that hard-line Islamic fighters are at the forefront of the battle against the Syrian regime.

"Why is no one saying anything about the Iranian and Russian advisers and Hezbollah?" he asked, a reference to opposition claims that the Syrian regime's main allies are directly involved in the fighting.

Even as rebel fighters gain more territory on the ground in their fight against Assad's troops, their mostly exile political leadership has been divided. Al-Khatib announced his resignation on Sunday because of what he described as restrictions on his work and frustration with the level of international aid for the opposition. The coalition rejected the resignation and al-Khatib said he would discuss the issue later and represent the opposition at the Qatar summit "in the name of the Syrian people."

Also, Hitto's election as the head of the interim government was rejected by the opposition's military office, which said he was not a consensus figure. Some members have accused Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood of imposing their will on the Coalition.

In Damascus, the government on Tuesday blasted the Arab League's move to allow the opposition to take its seat at the Doha summit, portraying it as a selling-out of Arab identity to please Israel and the United States.

"The Arab League has blown up all its charters and pledges to preserve common Arab security, and the shameful decisions it has taken against the Syrian people since the beginning of the crisis and until now have sustained our conviction that it has exchanged its Arab identity with a Zionist-American one," said an editorial in the Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece.

"The Syrians are fully aware that this is not a summit of the Arabs, and Arabism means nothing without Syria," it said, adding that recognizing the opposition "legitimizes terrorist acts that are committed overtly and blatantly against the Syrians, their institutions and properties."

The government in Damascus says the conflict is an international conspiracy to weaken Syria being carried out by terrorists on the ground.

Addressing the summit, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby warned that the Syrian conflict would have "grave repercussions" on the whole region and blamed Assad's regime for the failure to end the strife.

A "political settlement of the Syrian crisis is the choice that should be undertaken," he said.

The crisis began in March 2011 with protests demanding Assad's ouster. With a harsh government crackdown, the uprising steadily grew more violent until it became a full-fledged civil war. The United Nations estimates that more than 70,000 people have died so far in the conflict.

The emir of Qatar, a tiny but super-rich nation that is assuming a growing regional role, proposed a "mini" Arab summit in Egypt to negotiate reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions, the Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement that controls the West Bank and the militant Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip.

He said the proposed summit would remain in session until an agreement is reached, including a timetable for the creation of a transitional government to oversee legislative and presidential elections.

Sheik Hamad also proposed creating a $1 billion fund for the defense of Jerusalem's Arab identity. Qatar, he said, would contribute $250 million and expects other Arab nations to come up with the rest.

"The Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rights in Jerusalem are not negotiable and Israel must realize this," he said.

__

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Hamza Hendawi in Cairo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-26-Arab%20Summit/id-052d97fbbf1a459487cb1bfcf922a80a

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Love a ski chalet home? Join Club Med... | Property | News | Daily ...

In 2007, it ventured into property sales offering villas at its resort on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. At the time, the company was talking of developing holiday homes attached to resorts in Asia and Australia, but in the end it has chosen France for its second property offering: a series of chalet apartments in Valmorel.

Located at 1,400 metres in the Savoie region, Valmorel sits on the north side of the mountain and while this means less chance of skiing with the sun in your face, it also guarantees better snow and of the two elements, snow is certainly more important.

This year Valmorel has reported seven metres of the white stuff. There are 150km of pisted runs as well as a huge amount of off piste skiing.

The quiet little French town attracts many locals and has a good family vibe. There are no raucous pubs and if your idea of fun is going on a bar crawl, the resort would not appeal. Nestling between the pine trees overlooking the picturesque town and its existing Club Med resort, the view from the new complex of ski in/ski out chalets is incredible. So far, two phases of a projected four-phase development have been built.

There will be 80 units when all is finished, each with its own entrance directly out on to the slopes and a private terrace. The chalet apartments are sold fully furnished and all have log fi res, private ski lockers, high-tech equipment and wi-fi.

The interiors have a traditional mountain village feel, with a four poster bed in the master bedrooms and sliding doors in the bathroom so residents can enjoy the spectacular mountains while soaking in the bath with a glass of champagne.

The properties also come with an owner?s area which allows buyers to lock up and leave their personal items and ski equipment when away or renting out their property.

Prices for the furnished chalet apartments start from ?465,000 (546,000 euros) for two bedrooms, rising to ?626,000 (735,000 euros) for three bedrooms and to ?1,039,000 (1,220,000 euros) for four bedrooms, exclusive of taxes. Sizes range from 83 square metres to 192 square metres.

Current purchases are structured under the French leaseback laws, allowing owners three weeks use per year, including one week at high season. All properties must be put in a rental pool for the remainder of the year for a minimum of nine years. Rental yield assuming 60 per cent occupancy will be three per cent. Leaseback contracts allow buyers to recover 19.6 per cent VAT.

Owners? weeks come with complimentary use of the resort restaurants and bars, leisure facilities such as the indoor pool, activities including ski passes and ski lessons, and daily entertainment.

Owners also enjoy an in-house butler service, providing breakfast and apr?s ski treats. The butler will arrange for skis and shoes to be delivered to the door.

One or all of their holiday weeks can be exchanged for a stay at one of five other Club Med resorts around the world.

?Buying a Club Med chalet-apartment as a second home is a completely stress-free investment,? says Veronique Bertrand, president of chalets and villas for Club Med.

?Your visits will be relaxing from the very start. A private car will pick you up from the airport and when you reach your home, a dedicated butler will be there to welcome you. And when you are away, Club Med will take care of your property and maintain it all year round.?

Any doubts about the property venture have vanished, she adds, as the projects have been delivered: ?At first people were very sceptical of the idea of Club Med selling real estate.
Now, they are like: ?Wow, it?s a brilliant idea.??

In typically French style, she describes the chalets at Valmorel as ?la cr?me de la cr?me? and with good reason.

Club Med uses the ?trident? instead of star as a rating and at Valmorel the chalets are considered at the top, above five tridents, which is the highest any Club Med resort can achieve.
The personal butler service is a really superb touch, the only problem is you get out of the habit of doing things for yourself.

In phase four, the apartments may be bought outright, which is expected to appeal more to French buyers who live within close distance of Valmorel and are able to visit at weekends more easily.

A major plus point of this type of ski property purchase is safety: Club Med, which has just celebrated its 60th birthday, has a huge and well-established following that includes loyal customers from its early days who are now grown up and go on Club Med holidays with their own children.

A similar blend of family friendliness, safety and luxury is on offer at Club Med?s Albion Plantation on Mauritius, the first property venture.

Launched in 2007 by the amiable CEO, Henri Giscard d?Estaing, son of former French president Valery Giscard d?Estaing, the villas are located in front of the thatched Indonesian-style resort buildings.

The 44 villas form a horseshoe-shaped complex facing the sea and have arguably one of the best locations on the island, with direct access to silver-sand beaches strewn with jet-black rocks. The lack of neighbours gives the villas exceptional privacy.

These cost from ?1,562,000 (1,829,000 euros) before tax, rising to ?1,838,000 (2,152,000 euros) before tax for a four-bedroom villa under the lease management programme. Five are under construction with delivery expected by the end of summer. Designed by Mauritian architect Jena-Michel D?Unienville, each single storey villa has a landscaped garden, verandah and a private infinity swimming pool.

Internally the villas have been decorated with local materials such as rough wood tiles, lava stone and traditional textured rendering, a blend that pays homage to the cultural mix of Mauritius where Europeans, Africans, Asians and Indians all appear to co-exist in a harmony that is increasingly rare.

Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/property/386613/Love-a-ski-chalet-home-Join-Club-Med

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